GOOD HOPE — Plans for Good Hope’s expansion of its Municipal Park are underway, and the Good Hope City Council got an early look at how some of the park’s trails could look during Monday night’s meeting.

The city approved the purchase of a 33-acre plot of land adjoining Municipal Park in June, with the purpose of providing additional trail space for city residents and a possible venue for high school cross country events.

David Haynes, an engineer with St. John & Associates, presented a preliminary plan for the park to show members some of the possibilities for trail layouts and facilities that could be built on the land.

The plan presented to the council included a 3.2-mile long trail loop and a .69-mile short trail loop that would be open for the public, along with a disc golf course, a centrally-located bathroom facility, a facility for local scouts and four pavilions spread out along the perimeter of the park.

There is also a space that could be used for a splash pad and an area for a playground if the council wanted to install either one of those, Haynes said.

The land already has some development on it that can be used for parking, but it also has a small creek running through it that will require work to navigate, he said. 

“You’ve got a couple of obstacles that you’ve got to work around,” Haynes said.

Good Hope Mayor Jerry Bartlett said the city is looking to apply for grants to help pay for the work, and he has reached out to the city’s schools to ask them to support Good Hope’s efforts in bringing them a new cross country venue.

“We’re going to get letters from them for our grant that say how much they need it,” he said. 

While Monday’s plan is just a concept for the park, City Planner Corey Harbison told the council they can take a look at some of the things they liked or things that they would like to be different in future discussions.

“This is all just concepts that we’ve all talked about over the past couple years,” he said. “It just kinda gives us an idea of what we can do where.”